WWS Calendar

"A Future for Public Media in New Jersey" Subject of Panel Discussion, October 20

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Audience:

The Woodrow Wilson School will host a roundtable discussion titled "A Future for Public Media in New Jersey" at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 20, in Bowl 016, Robertson Hall. The panel will respond to the report issued by the New Jersey Legislative Task Force on Public Broadcasting on the future of New Jersey Network Public Television and Radio (NJN). The task force was established to study, evaluate and develop recommendations relating to NJ Governor Chris Christie's proposal to privatize NJN - New Jersey's only television station. A public reception will follow the discussion in the Bernstein gallery.

While one of the most densely populated and diverse states in the nation, New Jersey is one of only two states that does not have a major television network affiliate. As a result, its citizens have historically relied on neighboring New York and Pennsylvania for information. Exacerbated by the economic downturn and decline in print media, the state’s news deficit jeopardizes political and public policy transparency and community awareness. The discussion will examine the role of public media – particularly public television and public radio and its importance in local discourse.

Panelists will include Douglas Eakeley, partner at the law firm Lowenstein Sandler and Chair of the NJN Foundation Board of Trustees; task force member and New Jersey Assemblyman Lou Greenwald; Janice Selinger, Acting Executive Director of NJN Public Television and Radio and Acting President of the NJN Foundation; and Paul Starr, the Woodrow Wilson School's Stuart Professor of Communications and a Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs.

Eakeley has been an NJN Foundation Trustee since 1993. He is an attorney with the law firm Lowenstein Sandler PC, where he chairs the firm’s Practice Groups focusing on Antitrust and Trade Regulation and Class Action & Derivative Litigation and co-chairs the firm's Appellate Practice Group.

Assemblyman Lou Greenwald is part of the ten-member task force charged with assessing the future of NJN. He has represented New Jersey’s 6th Legislative District since 1996. Greenwald currently serves as the Chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee and as a member of the Assembly Appropriations and Judiciary Committees.

Selinger oversees the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority and NJN Public Television & Radio and serves as General Manager for the organization. Selinger works directly with the Governor’s office, State agencies and Board of Commissioners. She has been part of the NJN team for over 30 years and also works in the capacity as the Deputy Executive Director for Programming and Production.

Starr has written extensively on American society, media, politics, and both domestic and foreign policy. He is co-author of the article published in New Jersey Policy Perspective titled, "A Future for Public Media in New Jersey: How to Create a New Basis for Public Radio, TV, and Online Media in One of American Journalism's Worst Covered States," which examines the State's chronic news deficit.

This event is free and open to the public.

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The Woodrow Wilson School hosted a roundtable discussion titled "A Future for Public Media in New Jersey" at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 20, in Bowl 016, Robertson Hall. The panel responded to the report issued by the New Jersey Legislative Task Force on Public Broadcasting on the future of New Jersey Network Public Television and...